Cradle Of Filth’s South American tour was all going smoothly until it wasn’t, when two days ago, keyboardist/vocalist Zoë Marie Federoff quit the band, her husband, guitarist Marek ‘Ashok’ Šmerda, announced he was also quitting at the end of the tour, before frontman Dani Filth decided to fire Ashok with immediate effect.
In a statement, Federoff complains of a “threatening and abusive” atmosphere in the band, low pay, and a contract that her lawyer described as “psychopathic”, revealing that she and her husband had planned to leave the band months ago.
Filth responded, pushing back against the allegations made by Federoff against the band’s management as “completely unjust and unfounded”.
Joining the English black metal stalwarts in 2014, Ashok recorded four albums with the band. Federoff joined in 2022. Both played on Cradle’s most recent album, The Screaming Of The Valkyries.
Federoff’s statement, posted to her Instagram account, was accompanied by a copy of the contract she and Ashok had received from Cradle of Filth. Federoff says her lawyer called it the “most psychopathic contract a session musician could ever be handed”.
Federoff shared a litany of complaints against the band’s management, whom she alleges are working at the behest of Filth (real name Daniel Davey).
“When I called them out on this attempted theft of album advance money from Screaming Of The Valkyries, they called me ‘cancer’ and a ‘dead horse’ and threatened to fire me,” wrote Federoff. “The frontman does nothing to stop them and hides behind them while they belittle and steal. We hold the frontman responsible for hiring this management and never advocating for his team, only himself.”
Federoff says the money she and Ashok earned from playing in Cradle Of Filth did not cover the cost of living, and complained of a “toxic” atmosphere. She lays the blame firmly at Filth’s door.
“He might not get his hands dirty, but in the end, he directs them,” says Federoff. “The atmosphere he creates is threatening and abusive, and he constantly exploits us for very low wages, yet always demands exclusivity to Cradle’s schedule. It is madness to keep people locked in poverty for the ego of one person.”
Ashok said that he fully intended to see out the tour with the band, and wished Federoff’s replacement, Kelsey Peters, good luck. But his statement was scathing.
He echoed Federoff’s sentiments, citing a low pay, high stress environment, and said that for some time they didn’t feel the band cared for its members. “It has been years of unprofessional behaviour from people above us that led to our decision,” he wrote.
He also took the opportunity to distance himself from Cradle Of Filth’s unlikely collaboration with Ed Sheeran, decrying it as “foolish clown antics”, and asked that all of his compositions to be removed from any upcoming releases, including the Sheeran track.
“First it was charity single for kids, then for profit single, then on next album, and now who knows,” he writes. “I just do not want to be involved anymore, no disrespect to Ed Sheeran.”
Just a few hours later, Ashok was out. Cradle Of Filth announced that they were going to fly in a temp, and played their show in Montevideo, Uruguay with Donny Burbage handling all guitars.
